Selecting mechanism for telegraph type-wheel printers



May 21,'1929. E. R. WHEELER ET AL SELECTING MECHANISM FOR TELEGRAPH TYPE WHEEL PRINTERS 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed Sep'. 9, 1927 "I SELECTION l DIV.

May 21, 1-929, E. R. WHEELER ET AL 1,714,334

SELECTING MECHANISM FOR TELEGRAPH TYPE WHEEL PRINTERS Filed Sept 9, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Famed May 2.1,v 1929. f

"UNITED 'STATES PATENT, OFFICE.

E'vAN n. WHEELER, or Nomixy PLAINF'IELD, NEW JERSEY, AND noBEn'r 1r. miens,

or JAMAICA, NEW Yonx, AssmNons To THE WESTERN UNIoNTnLEGmH coll- PANY, Ior NEW xonx, N. Y., A conroaa'rIoNor NEW You.

SELECTING imcnsmsu ron TELEGBAPH TYPE-WHEEL mamans.

Application mea september e, 1927. serial Na. 218,546.

This invention relates to printers or tickers in which characters are arranged on a typewheel or a type segment andparticularly to the mechanism for rotating the typewheel or segment to bring the desired character on the wheel to the printing position.

An object of vourinvention is to provide a telegraph printer or ticker capable of a high speed of operation ,with maximum accuracy and one which is simple and compact in construction and inexpensive to manufacture.

Fundamentally a printer having its characters arranged in the vform of a typewheel or on a segment is capable of sim ler construction and requires fewer parts t an a rinter having its characters arranged on type ars as in typewriters or in Well known 'fo ms of telegraph printers.- Charactefs arranged in typewheel form .or on a segment are accordingly chosen for this description.

A printer typewheel may be rotated or posit-ioned for printing by stepping'it one character space at a time under the influence of electrical or mechanical means. ina slow operation as considerable time is required to step the typewheel to the desired position. A preferred means is to utilize a uniform code, say of five selecting impulses per character, and cause the typewheel tobe rotated by the cumulative efect of selecting means controlled bythe selecting impulses.

Prbably the best known case of the controlof a typewheel'by cumulative or aggregate movements is that of Buckingham described in Patent No: 487,981 dated December 13, 1892. A recent one is described in PatentA No. 1,533,207 of H. Pfannenstiehl` dated April 14, 1925. Another arran ement is-disclosed in Patent No. 1,613,937 o M. P. Chaplin dated Jan. 11, 1927. The mechanism of the invention disclosed herein also controls the positioning of the typewheel by the cumulative action of members which .are separately controlled by the selecting impulses of the code characters but diers in many details fromv the cumulative action mechanisms previously known.

In the following description we shall refer to the accompanying drawings in which- Figures 1 to 6 inclusive--are diagrammatic illustrations showing the arrangement of link mechanism comprising one embodiment of.

our invention; and Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic This results` 'rious ways which it is not our purpose to dislpanvrtthe desired upward movement whenthe illustration of another embodiment ofzthe vsame showin a more compact arrangement of #l selection, in non-selected'and selected positions. .Link arm 1 is ivoted at #2 and. 00 has affixed to its lower end a segment 3. The characters to be printed may be embossed on this segment if so desired or the se ent may be a portion of a gear wheel in which may be meshed a pinion which is fixed solidly on the typewheel shaft. Inthe first case any motion of the arm 1 about pivot 2 chan es the character lposition directl while int e second case't e movement o arm 1 is imparted through gear .teeth and a pinion (shown dotte to a ty ewheel. For purposes of this description eit er method may be employed.

At some point 4 on link armj1, link 5 is' secured in such a manner that it can rotate with point 4 as a pivot. At point 6 the other end of link 5 is secured to links 7 and 8. Links 5, 7 and 8 are independently rotatable about pivot 6. The right hand end of link 7 is shown pivoted at a fixed'point 9, while the upper end of 'link 8 is pivoted at a movable point 10. The full lines'in Fig. 1 show this unit of the-mechanism in its normal nonselected position. The links areall rotatable in a horizontal plane and no motion can be imparted to it in any other plane because of the nature of the bearings and pivots.

l'For selection of this one unit, oint 10 is moved upwards toa predetermine point 10.

This movement may be accomplished in va.-

cuss here. One way is to have oint 10 attached to the armature of one o the five selecting magnets such as are commonly employed in telegraph printers, which will immagnet is energized from one of the incoming selection impulses. When point 10 is displaced to 10,.point -6 ispulled upwards, but because link 7 is pivoted at a li'xed point 9, point 6 is compelled to swing to the right to a point 6. This causes link 5 to be displaced .to the right and it in turn pulls link 1- to the right, causing it to rotate about point 2. Point 11 is accordingly displaced to point 11', bringing another character on the typewheel into the printing position formerly occupied by 11. The dotted lines in Fig. 1 show the position of the links when displaced by the movement of point 10 under the influence of the selection impulse. It is obvious that any desired movement of point 11 on the segment may be obtained by moving point 1() upward for different distances.

In Fig. 2 is shown the application of the second selection movement in such a way that itl will act through the links of the first unit butin a manner which does not disturb point 10 which is the point yof application of the first selection movement. Instead of point 9 being a fixed point it is made the lower end of an idler link 12 which swings about a fixed pivot 13. Links 12, 14, 16 and 17 form another u it exactly similar to links 1, 5, 7 and 8 in th first selection unit. An upward movement of point 18 to position 18 causes point 15 to move upward'and to the right to 15'. This causes the horizontal links 14, 7 and 5 to swing about points 13, 10 and 2. Point 11 on segment 3 is moved to point 11.

The movement of point 18 is different from the selected movement of point i10 and'therefore imparts a different movement to point 11. In practice, point 10 is moved an amount suiicient to move segment 3 the space of 16 characters and the movement of point 18 is taken so as to produce a deflection of 8 character divisions on segment 3.

The combined movement of the two points 10 and 18 is shown in Fig. 3, producing a movement of 24 character divisions on segment 3.

It is obvious lthat as many selection units as desired can be added at the right of the two units shown in Figs. 2 and 3 and their movements will be projected through to the typewheel segment singly or will be cumulative if more than one selection is made at a time. In the usual printing telegraph mechanism five selection units are used for select- -i the position of the typewheel or selectiil the bar in a typebar printer. systems a sixth unit is used for the purpose of distinguishing between figure and letter characters. We have shown five selection units adapted to be actuated by the five selectgsemagnets which respond to the five im-A,

1n pu s of the code characters.

In Fig. 4 is shown the number of links reuired and the manner of their arrangement `or the five selection impulses necessary to give 32 character positions on the typewheel. The upward movement of point 10- (first selection) is such as to move a point on segment 3 through the space of 16 chaiacters. Point 18 (second selection)I is arranged to move so as to rotate segment 3 through 8 divisions. The third selection, acting on point 20, causes a movement of 4 character divisions; the

fourth selection applied at point 21 causes a movement of two character divisions; while the fth selection acting at point 22, causes A'straight line.

In some a movement of one characterhdivision. Point- 23'v is the final fixed point at the end of five selection link mechanisms.

The dotted lines in Fig. 4 show the first selection operated. Point 9 in this case acts as a fixed point as the links at the right of point 9 form a rigid system which does not yield. i s

In Fig. 5 only the fifth selection at the extreme right of the system of links is shown operated.V With point 23 fixed, point 24 is dependently operative while allowing their motions to combine correctly.

There are numerous possible variations from the link system shown which retain the same principles of ope-ration. The most important of these are noted in the following description. Most of the variations are'for the purpose of makin the system compact in slzeand of reducing t e necessary deiiections of the selection points 10, 18, 20, 21 and 22 to practical limits. l

In Fig. 6, wehave shown an arrangement wherein the positioning links 5, 7, 14, 16, 27, 28, 29,- 30, 31 and 32 do not form a straight line when in non-selected position but are placed at various angles. The advantage of this arrangement is that a greater movement of arm 1 and of segment 3 results from the same upward movement of point 10, than when' the links named are normally in a The reason for this is that when point 10, for example, is moved upward by a selection impulse, point. 6 moves to the printer selecting magnets at points 10,v

18, 20, 21 and 22 as far as if the intermediate links 5, 7, 14, 16 etc. were in a, straight line. This is shown in Fig. 6 where the movement .of segment 3 is the same as in Fig. 4 but the movement of point 10 is much less. By

changing the angles of the intermediate links,

making them different for each finit, 'the movement of the selecting points can be made nearly the same for each unit.

The system of links shown in Figs. 1 to 6 forms a long, thin chain wahich obviously would be unwieldy if made up in this manner d ment of links. In this ii for its selection,

for a printer. In our preferred form the'second selection unit, composed ofv links 14, 17, 16 and 33, is placed directly back of the' first selection unit. The third selection linit, in turn, composed of links 27, 36, 28 and-25 is laced back of the second selection -unit.

imilarly `the fourth and fifth units are placed to the'rear of the others so that the resulting system of links is only the width of one selection unit. Fig. 7 shows'this arrangere the links are designated b the same re erencel characters. The interme iate links 5, 7 14, 16, 27 etc are arranged angularly instead of in .a straight line for reasons explained in connection with' the arran ement of Fig. 6,

e arrangement of links shown in v With Fig. 7, the direction of movement of segment 3 resulting from a movement of selecting points 18 and 21 isop osite to that resulting rom a movement of t e other three selecting points 10, 2O and22. -To explain further, an ,upward movement of 1 and segment 3 towar point 10 willpull arm the right as link arm 7 rotates about stationary point 9. lOn the other hand when point 181s moved upward oint 1-9 is the stationaryl point about whicE link 16 swings, causing point 9 to be pulled towards the left. Point 9 and -arm 12 rotate about fixed pivot 13.

When point .9 is thus pulled to the left it pushes links 7 and 5 and consequently arm 1 and segment 3 toward the left.- Simila'rly it will be seenfrom Fig. 7 that movement left.

In practice, the amount of movement up" ward of selecting point 10 is so chosen-as to Movement of selecting ment of left, and

upwards of points 20 and 22 will cause moyevment .ofarm 1 and segment 3 to the right, while movement uplward of point 21- will cause movement of t e segment 3 towards the cause a movement of point 11 on segment 3 sixteen character divisions to the right. oint 18 causes a movement of point 11 eig ty divisions to the y left. Movement of selecting oint 20 causes movement of point 11 four 'visions to the right. Movementof point 21. causes moveoint 11 two divisions toward the ally, movement of selecting polnt 22 causes movementof point 11 one character division towards the right. An one of 32 (inclusive of start position possi le positions of point 11 is therefore o tained by different combinationsof the five selection imf pulses actin on selecting points 10,18, 20

he five selecting magnets M o the `printer are indicated conventionally, the armatures A being carried-by lever-'arms pivotally `attached 'at their outer free ends to said movable selecting points.-

'Of course if links 14, 16 and 29, 30 form an v angle with the apex upward as ign Fig. 7, it is .possible to operate -points 18 and 21 downward for a selection of upward, in

. nism.

which casetheir movement would deflect segment 3 toward the ri ht, the same as results from a movement of t e other three selecting points. All characters on the segment 3, or all gear teeth if 3 is a ear segment would then beat the left of pomt 11 and all movements ofthe segment in response to line im'- pulses or code selections would be toward the right. Practically it appears more desirable to have characters on each side of point 11. As illustrated in Fig. 7, movement of point 1l twenty-onecheracter divisions to the right is possible and movement of the same point ten character divisions to theleft is alsopos- 'I sible. This means that there are vtwenty-oney characters on the segment at the left of point 11 and ten'ch-aracters on the segment-at the right of point 11- which can be rotated by the line impulses or code selections to the location of point 11, the printing oint.

A n important detail o this mechanism isthat no resetting-of the selecting links or character segment 3 is necessary after printing. For example, if point 18 is selected for acharacter it remains in .its selected position for succeeding characters as long as those characters have that unit selected in their code combination. Selecting point y18'is returned to its non-selected position, only when a character is to vbe printed vhaving lthatunit not selected. The character segment therefore ,moves from its selected position to each succeeding selected position directly without returning to a normal or non-selected'position.

-Another detail which is important is that the order of selecting impulses does not have to be fixed; lEoints 10, 18, 20, 21 and v22 may be operated in sequence, they may be operated all together, or they may have lany desired amount of overlap one with another, the amount of overlap'vary'ing with each impulse if so desired. In other wordsthere isv no definite'relationrequired in `timeof operation of selecting-points 10, 18, 20, 21 and 22. The

vmechanism' is therefore adaptable to control from an kind of selection operated mechais may take theform of magnets which can be operated from segments onv -a` distributor head, thus making this link system applicable to a Multiplex printer. Or it may with-ths mechanism ofY its greatest movement 1s distributedI` over the five selections, Thus with the typewheel peripheral velocity comparatively slow and no.

iso

lost time due to mechanical setting because of setting during selections, the only mechanical overlap time needed is the press fnctlon.

`This function, because there is no necessity for that for setting or clearing out, can be ver fast and light. v

he result of this assembly of mechanisms is that a much greater printing speed can be maintained with no greater stress or strain' `which we ma A take advantage of is the multiplication o motionby connecting the intermediate links at diierent points on the vertical rods. For example, if instead of pivoting links 7 and 14 (Fig. 7) to 12 at a common point 9, link 7 can be left lpivoted at 9 while link 14 is secured at some point higher u on the link 12. When point 18 is selecte therefore, a movement of the 'link 14 will cause a greater movement of point '9 and hence of link 7 and segment 3, than is the case when both 7 and 14 are pivoted at 9. We have found this tobe a desirable arrangement in practice. The intermediate links may be connected at va'ryinul distances u on vertical rods 1, 12, 33, 25 and 26. This a so results in permitting the selected movements of points 10, 18, 20, 21 and 22 to be more nearly equal to each other and still obtain the desired deection of segment 3.

We claim: 4 1. In a printin telegraph receiver, a typemember arrange to be se ectively rotated to a printing position, means for selectively positioning saidtypesmember, comprising a said pivotal connections and .osoillat'able Aabout iixed points. to which their opposite ends are secured, and a set of selecting members each 'pivotally connected at their inner ends to the remaining pivotal connections, and means for moving their` outer ends in response to received code character impulses.

2. In a printin tele raph receiver, a typemember arrange to e selectively rotated to a printing position, means for selectively positioning said type-member, comprising a series of positioning links pivotally connected together end to end-t form a continuous chain, a set of supportingJmembers and a. set of selecting members alternating there` with, the inner ends of each set being connected to said pivotal connections and the outer ends of said selecting members being reciprocable in response to received codel character impulses.

3. In a printing telegraph receiver, a typemember arranged to be selectively rotated to. a printing position, means for selectively positioning saidtype member, -comprising a series of pivotally connected links operatively connected to said type-member,a plurality of selecting devices under the control f line impulses and connected alternately to said pivotal connections.

' 4. In a printing telegraph receiver as set forth in claim 3, said links being arranged in angularly positioned pairs, and adjacentv airs being oppositely directed. A P In testimony whereof we aiilx our signa-v tures. 4

.EVAN R. WHEELER. ROBERT F. DIRKES. 

